Paid To Party: Denver Parking Supervisors Paid OT To Attend Party

DENVER (CBS4) - A CBS4 Investigation found that two supervisors with the City of Denver's parking enforcement agency were on duty and being paid when they left Denver and traveled to a retirement party for a co-worker 25 miles away for several hours last month.

Records obtained by CBS4 showed that Denver Right of Way Enforcement supervisors Riene Candelaria and Joseph Richardson were on the clock Saturday, Aug. 23, and were supposed to be assisting dozens of vehicle control agents around Denver. But both ended up at a retirement party for a co-worker at a private home between the Aurora reservoir and Parker, at least a half-hour drive away from Denver.

"To me, that's stealing from the city. You are not working and you're being paid to work," said Charlee Crutchfield, a former Denver parking supervisor who retired from the agency in 2006 after 26 years of service.

CBS4 obtained photos verifying the two supervisors were at the retirement party and compared the hours of the party to city work records for Candelaria and Richardson, which showed each one was on the clock starting at 9 a.m. But both began getting paid overtime during the time they were at the retirement send-off.

"If something happens with an employee and a citizen, you need to be able to get there in seconds and you can't do that if you are out at a party," said Crutchfield. "Somebody has an accident," said Crutchfield, "you need to be able to get there within minutes of that accident."

Photos of the party obtained by CBS4 showed that the director of Parking Enforcement, Tina Scardina, was also at the retirement party, so she was aware of the supervisors being paid in Denver but partying miles outside of the city. Scardina had approved of the actions in advance.

"I consider them to be working while at that celebration," Scardina told CBS4. "I think they were working while at the party. I felt like they could fulfill their duties while at the party." Scardina said each was in radio and cellphone contact with subordinates if they needed immediate assistance. Asked how the on- duty supervisors got to the party, Scardina said Candelaria drove her city vehicle and used city gas, but Richardson brought his wife in his personal car.

Scardina agreed to speak to CBS4 the morning of Sept. 30.

But records show that late in the day on Sept. 29, the evening before she was scheduled to explain her agency's actions, city payroll records show Scardina changed the employees' time records to show that Richardson and Candelaria each used two hours of vacation time to cover their time at the retirement party. She acknowledged the change came well after CBS4 began asking questions about what had happened. Scardina explained she had the employees reimburse their time at the party by saying that for about two hours that afternoon, neither Candelaria nor Richardson were called by subordinates on their radios or cellphones, so, therefore, for those gaps, they technically weren't doing any work and should reimburse the paid time Scardina had previously approved.

"I thought it was the right thing to do to amend their time cards," Scardina said.

Charlee Crutchfield believes Scardina made a poor decision in the first place.

"As a director she should not have allowed it. She should have told them to take a day off or stay at work and work. You can't get paid at a party. You can't do that. It's stealing," the former supervisor said.

Scardina was asked if she would make the same decision again, to allow on the clock workers to go to a party.

"Yes, it's conceivable," Scardina said.